The Good News

[Mad_Gerbil]

1)  Why exactly did you post this skit here?  You didn't ask a question or comment on it.  Were you simply hoping that it would somehow trigger one of us heathens to un-deconvert?  Trust me, if anything the reaction will be negative.  We are, by and large, overly sensitive to such blatant attempts at emotional manipulation.

 

That is the nature of an internet forum.

Some people will like it, and some will not.

Both views are welcome as far as I'm concerned.

 

As for 'conversion', that has never been my goal in being here.

Even when some members here do convert (and go back again) the way I treat them doesn't change. Each person is on a path and I find where ever they are at to be interesting for the most part.

 

2)  Why do you spell God without the 'o'?  Is he easily offended at the use of his generic name in English?

 

That is for my benefit, I don't think G_d cares either way.

[Mad_Gerbil]

Yay! That's the right kind of church! 

 

And do you have nachos instead of bread?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I wanted to respond with something clever -- but this comment really needs no additions.

[Mad_Gerbil]

Brainwashing?

 

Just 2 nights ago we were with friends at the end of a wine-tasting party at their house.  Alcohol being the truth-serum and all, the hostess confessed her extreme anxiety over gambling.  It wasn't just distaste, it was borderline psychosis!  She went and pulled a few slots for the sake of her boyfriend but it was all she could do to keep from passing out or running out of the building.  Further questioning revealed that it was drilled into her head as a child how evil gambling was.  Of course her case is a bit extreme as it involved an alcoholic parent and physical abuse bordering on sexual abuse.  But years of training to respond emotionally to certain types of music and/or guilt certainly qualifies as brainwashing to me.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is there an ExMaterialist site anywhere so that people brainwashed by billboards, TV, and radio into throwing their lives away buying useless junk can learn how to throw off the shackles of consumerism?

 

Brainwashing is a fact of life.

People who don't learn to handle it are gonna be victims for their entire lives.

 

Teach your kids to resist it from anybody and they'll avoid all of it.

[trashy]

Yea, I'm an over-analyzer here too.  I like to turn things over and over in my head.  I was told by a pastor's wife once that this is the sin of introspection and I must bring it to the throne of Jesus and stop introspecting. 

I think she was confusing her sins!

[trashy]

That is the nature of an internet forum.

Some people will like it, and some will not.

Both views are welcome as far as I'm concerned.

But MG - this is the "Debating with Christians" forum, not the "Cute Anecdote" forum. What's there to debate if you don't propose a question?

[Mad_Gerbil]

Hmm.

 

I think I'll take that as a compliment. I replied before coffee on a Monday morning.

 

How does one over-analyze? I've been accused of this a lot in my life, and really it just emphasizes how LITTLE time the person making the comment spends thinking about the same topic.

 

Not over analyze in the sense of using critical thinking skills to turn a concept over in ones mind -- but rather in the sense of allowing those critical thinking skills to destroy the intent of the message. There is a point where thinking about something too much actually clouds the issue.

 

What play, TV show, song or skit could survive the type of abuse that seeks out every little possible shade of meaning only to exploit it to destroy it?

 

Example?

 

Sure:

 

Hmm.

 

Why two m's and a period?

Are you making some vague reference to millimeters?

 

I think I'll take that as a compliment. I replied before coffee on a Monday morning.

 

So if you would have replied after coffee that would have been considered an insult? Could you please send me your coffee drinking schedule since the meaning of a phrase changes based on your use of coffee? Or is it just a Monday morning thing with you?

 

-------------------------------

 

What happens is by over analyzing your post I take your clear intent and wad it up into a little ball and throw it back at you. That isn't healthy over analyzing, that is just destructive and stupid.

 

Two can play at that game -- how about we just decide to have nobody play at that game?

[trashy]

Brainwashing is a fact of life.

People who don't learn to handle it are gonna be victims for their entire lives.

 

Teach your kids to resist it from anybody and they'll avoid all of it.

I note two things about your response:

 

1) You do not deny that churches attempt to brainwash people

 

2) You suggest that people teach their kids to resist it!

 

Truly amazing!

[Mad_Gerbil]

But MG - this is the "Debating with Christians" forum, not the "Cute Anecdote" forum.  What's there to debate if you don't propose a question?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

One couldn't post a chocolate chip cookie recipe on this forum without generating some debate.

 

Maybe I just know my audience?

 

[Mad_Gerbil]

I note two things about your response:

 

1)  You do not deny that churches attempt to brainwash people

 

2)  You suggest that people teach their kids to resist it!

 

Truly amazing!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Why is that amazing?

 

I attended a church for many years where they brainwashed people -- it done ticked me off. You can bloody well bet I'm gonna teach my kids to resist that nonsense. I hate fundamentalism... this disgusting interbreeding of religion and culture to the point that a hair style is either 'Christian' or not -- what a load of crap.

 

But not just that brainwashing, but all brainwashing. This is a technique used by every form of government, religion, or sales department. Resisting it is a good skill to have and I'd want everyone to do so.

[trashy]

One couldn't post a chocolate chip cookie recipe on this forum without generating some debate.

 

Maybe I just know my audience?

 

So you just throw something up and see if the responses might possibly generate a debate, therefore causing the thread to be in the right forum? Strange.

[Mad_Gerbil]

So you just throw something up and see if the responses might possibly generate a debate, therefore causing the thread to be in the right forum?  Strange.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You must be new here.

In my entire history here I've yet to do something as simple as read the weather report without it turning into a debate.

[Alice]

Why is that amazing?

 

I attended a church for many years where they brainwashed people -- it done ticked me off.  You can bloody well bet I'm gonna teach my kids to resist that nonsense.  I hate fundamentalism... this disgusting interbreeding of religion and culture to the point that a hair style is either 'Christian' or not -- what a load of crap.

 

But not just that brainwashing, but all brainwashing.  This is a technique used by every form of government, religion, or sales department.  Resisting it is a good skill to have and I'd want everyone to do so.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Its amazing because you opened this thread by presenting an anecdote about a performance of a skit that was emotional manipulation at its best. You presented it as a 'good thing' and as something you wished you could experience more readily.

 

But now is seems as though this kind of brainwashing is something you think we should teach our children to resist - you'll be happy to know that many of us have realised this already and taken steps.

 

I guess then the reason why you want to be closer to a church that uses such techniques is so that you can explain to your children how they should resist the carefully solo singing of 'amazing grace' - not to fall for the techniques of raking up regrets and mistakes - having them labelled as sins - and then being swept up with gratitude for the fact that God had apparently forgiven them for these things he had previously condemened them for? Right?

[Mad_Gerbil]

Its amazing because you opened this thread by presenting an anecdote about a performance of a skit that was emotional manipulation at its best. You presented it as a 'good thing' and as something you wished you could experience more readily.

 

But now is seems as though this kind of brainwashing is something you think we should teach our children to resist - you'll be happy to know that many of us have realised this already and taken steps.

 

I guess then the reason why you want to be closer to a church that uses such techniques is so that you can explain to your children how they should resist the carefully solo singing of 'amazing grace' - not to fall for the techniques of raking up regrets and mistakes - having them labelled as sins - and then being swept up with gratitude for the fact that God had apparently forgiven them for these things he had previously condemened them for? Right?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Um... maybe you and I are using different definitions for brainwashing?

 

Brainwashing isn't a skit or a play where the crowd is asked to identify with the characters in order to learn something or perceive a truth -- brainwashing involves techniques used in a methodical way in order to override a persons will and make them a slave.

 

Again, a fantastic way of getting a point across isn't brainwashing - that is just good theatre.

 

Incidently, brainwashing also isn't an effective presentation of something you happen to disagree with either.

 

If you'd like to know what brainwashing is try this:

 

When I was in college they'd take an entire week off school so that we could sit in church for a missionary conference. The conference went from 8 to 3 in the morning and from 6 to 10 at night. The same message was repeated over and over again and this went on for an entire week. Also up on stage was a death rate calculator that clicked off deaths on the planet (slightly faster than one per second) in plain view for everyone to see. The speakers would constantly reference it:

 

"While you've been sitting there 50,000 people have died -- what are YOU gonna do about it?"

 

"Did you enjoy your lunch break? Ten thousand people died and went to hell while you were at lunch."

 

They'd also parade all those that recently decided to give their lives to missionary service across that stage like they were heroes --- why exactly are you wasting your life as a computer technician?

 

That, my friend, is brainwashing.

A skit that I voluntarily attend on a Sunday Morning is not.

[crazy-tiger]

Um... maybe you and I are using different definitions for brainwashing?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe...

brain·wash·ing

n.

1: Intensive, forcible indoctrination, usually political or religious, aimed at destroying a person's basic convictions and attitudes and replacing them with an alternative set of fixed beliefs.

2: The application of a concentrated means of persuasion, such as an advertising campaign or repeated suggestion, in order to develop a specific belief or motivation.

[Translation of Chinese (Mandarin) xǐ nǎo : xǐ, to wash + nǎo, brain.]

I must say that skit, and others like it do fit in with the second definition... hell, so does going to church on a regular basis.

[Mad_Gerbil]

Maybe...

I must say that skit, and others like it do fit in with the second definition... hell, so does going to church on a regular basis.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So repeated visits to this site -- along with reading various testimonies here is actually exchristian.net's attempt to....

 

*shudder*

 

...BRAINWASH ME???!!!

 

Ya'll disgust me!

[Mad_Gerbil]

Maybe...

I must say that skit, and others like it do fit in with the second definition... hell, so does going to church on a regular basis.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Incidently, you little dancing super heroes is very mezmerizing -- if that isn't brainawashing I dunno what would be.

[Ouroboros]

Um... maybe you and I are using different definitions for brainwashing?

Or different brands.

 

(snip)

If you'd like to know what brainwashing is try this:

 

When I was in college they'd take an entire week off school so that we could sit in church for a missionary conference.  The conference went from 8 to 3 in the morning and from 6 to 10 at night.  The same message was repeated over and over again and this went on for an entire week.  Also up on stage was a death rate calculator that clicked off deaths on the planet (slightly faster than one per second) in plain view for everyone to see.  The speakers would constantly reference it:

 

"While you've been sitting there 50,000 people have died -- what are YOU gonna do about it?"

Answer- "Well, for starters, run for my life away from this place!"

or

Answer- "It sure doesn't help to sit here while they die!"

 

"Did you enjoy your lunch break?  Ten thousand people died and went to hell while you were at lunch."

Answer- "Sorry, they starved to death? I promise to share my food from now on."

or

Answer- "Was it the garlic?"

 

They'd also parade all those that recently decided to give their lives to missionary service across that stage like they were heroes --- why exactly are you wasting your life as a computer technician?

They got medals too?

 

Damn! What a tough Church that was.

 

That, my friend, is brainwashing.

A skit that I voluntarily attend on a Sunday Morning is not.

Just a gum with a different flavor.

 

My church was blamed for brainwashing, even if we attendend it voluntarily. And it was the traditional Churches that used the term the most. And they called it a cult too. ... I wonder why?

[Ouroboros]

So repeated visits to this site -- along with reading various testimonies here is actually exchristian.net's attempt to....

 

*shudder*

 

...BRAINWASH ME???!!!

Yup!.... DAMN! You figured it OUT!!!

 

Ya'll disgust me!

I don't smell THAT bad! I did take a shower this morning...

[Ouroboros]

Incidently, you little dancing super heroes is very mezmerizing -- if that isn't brainawashing I dunno what would be.

No. His sig animation is to hypnotize you. Youuuu...feeeel...sleeeeeepyyyyy.... on my count to ten... you're asleeeeep...

[Mad_Gerbil]

No. His sig animation is to hypnotize you. Youuuu...feeeel...sleeeeeepyyyyy.... on my count to ten... you're asleeeeep...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Fall asleep in this room.... with this crowd?

 

*shudder*

 

[LloydDobler]

Recently, at the church my brother attends they did a skit:

 

A white trashy kinda of gal takes to the stage which is set up with a whole lot of shelves and boxes. She begins flipping through the boxes and each one is full of 35mm tapes of her life. Her entire life is recorded on 35mm film.

 

At first she isn't upset but as she gets to her teenage years sex tapes start showing up and she starts getting upset.

 

"Oh here is one were Dave and I had sex in the back seat of his car -- did you like watching that one G_d?" And again, "Here is another with Brain and I after the football game at his parents house, I bet you really enjoyed that one didn't you G_d? After all, you tell us not to do this stuff knowing in advance that we are going to do it -- I bet you get a real thrill out of it, doncha G_d?"

 

Eventually she gets to a box marked "Abortion" and she pulls out one of the reels -- the gal is very angry now -- and she goes over to the single projector in the room and she tells G_d that since he enjoyed watching it so much the first time that she insists they watch it together again. She places the reel into the projector and the click click click of the film can be heard.

 

The screen is blank -- only whiteness.

 

And then -- in the background and everyone realizes that all the sin has been washed away and the tapes are all blank -- the voice of a single soloist is heard....

 

"Amazing grace.. how sweet the sound.. that saved a wretch like me...."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The saddest part is that people think they're wretches just for being what god made them. Maybe if she didn't think sex was a sin, and had been taught birth control methods other than abstinence, she wouldn't have needed the abortion in the first place.

 

Maybe if we stop teaching people they are evil they might have self esteem and treat others as good as they treat themselves.

 

I used to fall for this crap too Gerbil, then I realized that sin is as fabricated as god.

 

Oh, and I woulda chucked the stone at the 'sinner' up front in the other skit. Woulda been hilarious. That or hand the stones to Jesus. 'get her'.

[Ouroboros]

Fall asleep in this room.... with this crowd?

 

*shudder*

 

Ah! You can discern what kind of spirit that lingers here. Very prophetible... eh... profitable...uh... propfhetic ... whatever...

[Amethyst]

I really, really miss communion.....

 

My former UCC church pastor used to say that his parents wouldn't have rejected anyone at the dinner table, which is why communion was all-inclusive there. If you believe your god rejects you just because you have a few questions for him, why would you worship such a being? Aren't parents supposed to love their children no matter what? Why worship such a "heavenly father" who you believe would torture you simply for taking communion when you are questioning him?

 

And I personally would not take communion, even if it raised a few eyebrows...but that is not because I respect the belief, but because I wouldn't dine at my parents' table if they hated everyone who wasn't like them, either.

[Amethyst]

Just like Communion. Preacher says, "only partake if you're ok with god and havent got any big sins going on right now".  Ever see anyone not partake?

 

I have refrained from partaking in churches that were not part of my denomination where I didn't know anyone. That was mostly out of the "fear of hell" belief though.

[Amethyst]

Brainwashing isn't a skit or a play where the crowd is asked to identify with the characters in order to learn something or perceive a truth -- brainwashing involves techniques used in a methodical way in order to override a persons will and make them a slave.

 

It is is if it's done over and over again all throughout their lives. There was a good article posted in one of these forums somewhere about how Christianity brainwashes people. It has to do with the hypnotic cadences of the voice and the beat of the hymns and other things. You should search for it.